NZMCA President Bruce Stanger with the inaugural winners of the NZMCA’s Community Partnership Award and long-serving Uretiti camp managers, Joe and Glenys Foster

NZMCA President Bruce Stanger recently travelled to Uretiti to present the award – along with a $500 cheque to further the project – to Scott Blackburn, Hamish Burbury, Peter Mills and Terry Hide who had invested thousands of dollars of their own money and countless hours of their time beautifying the camp.

What started out as a plan to plant four pōhutukawa trees in one corner of the barren park site soon snowballed into a labour of love for Scott – who was the driving force behind what became an extensive landscaping job – and the team.

It was that commitment which caught the eye of the NZMCA Board, who decided that the four members would be worthy first winners of the Community Partnership Award – which will be presented in future when appropriate Community Partnerships are identified.

In making the presentation to the men, Bruce Stanger said it was exactly the sort of project that the Association was keen to participate in with like-minded partners; and he was especially pleased that it involved a DOC camp site – given the two organisations’ strong relationship over a number of years.